A promise is a personal commitment to do something. Other words similar to "promise" are pledge, oath, and vow. A promise should be taken very seriously by everyone involved.
Oliver promised to help his brother move to a new apartment this weekend.
He promises he will be there this weekend.
He promised he would be there this weekend.
He promises to be there this weekend with his truck.
Sarah promised her boss that she would come to work early on Saturday.
She promised she would be there early.
She intends on keeping her promise.
She doesn’t want to break her promise.
The verbs "keep" and "break" are commonly used with the word "promise." To keep a promise is to honor it. To break a promise is to decide on an action that makes the promise worthless. Notice the use of the possessive adjective before the word "promise" in each of these examples:
I swear I will keep my promise.
Tim always keeps his promise.
Will you keep your promise?
Gina has broken her promise.
It’s hard to trust Todd because he always breaks his promise.
Why did you break your promise?
Don’t break your promise!
When you promise another person something, there are certain ways to do it:
I made a promise to my wife that I would fix the sink. (make a promise)
I promised her that I would take care of it.
She’s going to hold me to my promise. (hold one to a promise = make sure the promise is acted upon)
I promised not to let her down.
She has my promise.
There are many other ways in which you will hear the word "promise" in every day English:
He’s full of empty promises. (He breaks his promises.)
He went back on his promise. (He broke his promise.)
During the wedding ceremony, the couple promised to love, honor, and obey each other. (They will try to keep their promise to each other.)
He promises the stars and the moon. (He makes promises, but doesn’t always keep them.)
She failed to live up to her promise. (She broke her promise.)
A promise is a promise. (You must keep your promise.)
Promises, promises! (This is an expression that means that a promise is not worth very much.)
